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Disney Channel

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Established in 1983 — a time when The Walt Disney Companynote then known as Walt Disney Productions seemed to be on its last legs, just before the arrival of Michael Eisner and company — The Disney Channel initially served as an outlet for the company's old theatrical shorts, movies, and television shows, a source of documentary shows about Disney Theme Parks and films, and a dumping ground for productions Disney had little faith in.

Similar to Nickelodeon's early years, it didn't air around the clock until the "Disney After Dark" block, with PG programming for adults (including Going Home, a series of concert specials featuring mostly baby boomer-era acts, and A Prairie Home Companion), was added. note In the UK, it still doesn't air around the clock, with the midnight to 6am block relegated to "previews". Although their version of Disney XD does air 24/7 (it should be noted that said UK counterpart started as Fox Kids UK and time-shared with other channels— first a failed spin off of Sky 1 called Sky 2, then with the National Geographic Channel, before going 24/7 with the shutdown of Sky's analogue service and the rise of Sky Digital {many channels time-shared due to lack of transponders}; FK UK was rebranded first at Jetix and then as Disney XD after Disney bought Fox Family Worldwide). The channel also featured a colorful variety of family-oriented movies and series from other companies and countries, especially Canada. (The Anne of Green Gables films were popular enough that they led to the successful spinoff series Avonlea in The '90s.) Many Eighties kids feel very nostalgic for these early days, which included Dot and the Kangaroo and its sequels, the Unicoanimeadaptations, the Tales for All films, and the later seasons of Kids Incorporated, all accompanied by colorful, often stop-motion Ad Bumpers. It also is remembered in that time for being a premium service, much like HBO.

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In the early '90's, shows such as The New Mickey Mouse Club, the aforementioned Avonlea, Flash Forward (1996) (a launching pad for Ben Foster and Jewel Staite), In A Heartbeat and The Famous Jett Jackson helped the channel improve. Despite this though, Disney Channel eternally lagged behind the wildly popular Nickelodeon, in part because it was a pay cable service. It subsequently moved to basic cable in the summer of 2001 (though the transition had been under way before then, at least to 1997 and the three block approach to programming) and developed a unique format — instead of commercial breaks, pauses in programming are filled with promotions for other shows, Disney films and other Disney products like CDs and their sister radio network, Radio Disney, which are often their own promotional mini-shows. (There is some outside sponsorship in the form of Public Service Announcements using footage from whatever ad campaign a given sponsor is running on conventional television, not unlike PBS.) In addition, the adult-oriented lineup was replaced with "Vault Disney", a programming block that featured vintage Disney shows.

Disney Channel became especially infamous for giving most of its show's stars a singing career. Whether it be singing covers of Disney classics, or pop hits penned by several writers, most Disney Channel stars are picked specifically because they at least show a lot of promise and much of their shows ends up being built around promoting that talent (e.g. Austin & Ally, A.N.T. Farm, Shake it Up). The recordings are usually released through Hollywood Records.

All of this came at the expense of the general audience, who were outside of the channel's teenage demographic and were alienated by its programming and direction. These former fans pin the blame on then-president Anne Sweeney, for turning the channel into a teen-friendly entertainment outlet that barely resembles anything associated with the brand it is named after. Nonetheless, Disney Channel was able to finally beat Nickelodeon in the ratings: in 2012, Disney Channel broke Nick's 17-year long streak as the highest-rated kids channel in the U.S (in part, because of Nickelodeon's own decay).

As a result of all this, as well as the recent decline of linear cable/satellite subscriptions, Disney Channel has been pivoting its programming away from exclusively targeting teenagers and back towards a more general audience. Shows like Andi Mack (a family drama and the first original series to feature a gay character) and Stuck in the Middle (a single-camera comedy starring a Hispanic family) were well-received for breaking away from the previous template of the channel's programming.

Non-preschool animated programming also made a resurgence as, owing to Disney Channel being in more households than Disney XD, new premieres were moved over to the former. On top of premiering new episodes of several Disney XD originals, Disney Channel has also greenlit new series, like Amphibia, and began airing acquired shows, like Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (which was previously exclusive to international Disney Channels).

Disney Channel's sister networks include:

Toon Disney was a spinoff channel that focused on almost exclusively on Disney animation, but as a result of its aforementioned Network Decay became Disney XD. Ironically, the network has had an increased focus on animation in recent years, thanks to the success of Phineas and Ferb and shows based on Marvel Comics and the Star Wars franchise. In international markets, the channel was the second successor to Fox Kids. When Disney purchased Fox Family Worldwide (Fox Kids, Fox Family Channel, and Saban Entertainment) in 2001, they would retain the Fox Kids brand for a time. Beginning in 2004, all international versions were rebranded as "Jetix", after the program block on ABC Family and Toon Disney. Four years later, after Disney gained majority ownership of Jetix Europe, they would retire the brand and launch Disney XD in its place.

Playhouse Disney was a preschool-oriented morning block and a staple of the network for many years. After undergoing a number of shifts, the block was rebranded as Disney Junior on Valentine's Day, 2011, and became a full 24-hour-network in the U.S. in March 2012. Playhouse Disney had already existed as an independent network in many non-U.S. markets; these have since been relaunched under the Disney Junior brand as well.

Lilo & Stitch: The Seriesnote This show actually debuted on ABC Kids first a few weeks before its Disney Channel premiere; the show aired new episodes between both the Saturday morning block and Disney Channel throughout its run.

Miraculous Ladybugnote Acquired TV series. Originally aired in EMEA, Latin America, and South Korea; previously aired on Nickelodeon and then Netflix in the US and finally Channel Hop to theUS feed for the US airings

Mickey Mouse (2013), five-minute Mickey Mouse shorts that have effectively replaced the Have a Laugh/BLAM/Re-Micks segments. Notable in that it's a Spiritual Successor of the Classic Disney Shorts using modern computer-aided 2D animation.

Animated shows in both the "Playhouse Disney" and "Disney Junior" blocks

Animated shows in the Disney Junior block and 24/7 Disney Junior channel only

101 Dalmatians: The Series (once weekly repeats, originally seen as part of the Disney Afternoon, only lasted a couple of months before being removed. The show wasn't a preschool show, anyway. The program later began airing in weekday repeats on the 24/7 Disney Junior network, though unfortunately they seem to have only a very limited library of episodes.)

As The Bell Ringsnote Originally produced in Italy as Quelli dell'intervallo, adapted in many other markets. The US version is notable for having Demi Lovato as a regular before her bigger Disney projects.

Stitch!note Originally produced in Japan. Disney XD aired the English dub very briefly in the United States.

Stitch & Ainote Originally produced in China with American animators assisting production. It was produced in English, but a Mandarin Chinese dub aired first. The original English version first aired in Southeast Asia in February 2018. Twelve of the thirteen episodes of the series were later released in the United States on December 1, 2018 via the DisneyNow streaming service, which listed Stitch & Ai as a Disney Channel series. It was removed from that service in June 2019.

Violettanote Originally produced in Argentina. It was promoted alongside, and in some cases overshadowed, the American shows at the places it aired in, which was pretty much everywhere except the US, Canada, and most of Asia. It can currently be seen on Netflix in the US.

Other Disney (or not) shows that originated elsewhere have aired on Disney Channel:

The most blatant examples are High School Musical and Hannah Montana. Since they premiered in early 2006, it had become very common for the former to play during the movie slot every week with heavy advertisement for it beforehand, and for the latter to have marathons. There have been examples where a Hannah Montana marathon ended with a High School Musical film being played at the end. Miley Cyrus even made a cameo in High School Musical 2. In fact, during their prime, they were both often played during a major event elsewhere.

Title, Please!: All Disney Junior shows since 2018 don't have title cards, but the titles are still spoken allowed. The same happened in newer seasons of first-run shows prior to said year.

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